Dignity at the graveyard

Recently I was in Malta because of a death in the family and visited the Santa Maria Addolorata cemetery for the funeral. A funeral of a dear one is never a pleasant experience but what happens or rather happened at the cemetery did not help.

First of all, it seemed that we arrived late, at least for those who work there. Do you consider 3.45 p.m. late? Anyway, one of the workers, who seemed either to be a leading man or a foreman, remarked to the funeral director: "What did you have, a funeral Mass or a disco?" Of course this person, whom I know, did not realise that I, being both the priest in the funeral and a close relative of the deceased, was listening, since I was in the car following the hearse.

Secondly, the way the burial was handled might be termed as rather crude, to say the least. Those taking care of the burial were very insensitive to the feelings of those present. They performed the burial with such indifference and lack of respect that you might think they were patching a pothole in a road, not burying a dead person.

It is true that familiarity breeds contempt, but I am positive that if the dead person were to be a family member of theirs they would have handled it with a lot more care. Perhaps they ignore the fact that there is also dignity in death and that the dead person still has the right for dignity. Then, to add insult to injury, the person who was in the grave, made a step or two on the casket in order to get out of the grave.

It is a shame that in Malta, in the 21st century, these things are still happening. Probably, the only places where these type of burials still take place are in Third World countries and Malta is definitely not a Third World country.

Please, whoever is responsible for these people, take note and see that burials are done in a civilised manner and with dignity.